The news you need to know this week is just a short scroll down the page. Featured events are below, as well.

GeekSpeak, a veritable gem of a radio show, born in Santa Cruz, had their live KUSP broadcast on May 7. They're inviting the community to join them in-person on Sat, May 21, for a live show of "Ask Dr. Dawn" -- another gem of a radio show, also born in Santa Cruz -- and then the Geeks will teach you have to get started on podcasting. Check our events page for details.

One last plug! Startup Grind Monterey Bay has invited me to be the featured guest at their Monday, May 16, "Fireside Chat" at NextSpace in Santa Cruz. You're invited. 6pm: come network and share a brew. 7pm: come sit by the fire. Get the details and rsvp now.

Loud Powerful Sound: the story of one local startup's journey of innovation in consumer bluetooth speaker products. Read this story.

The Central Coast teems with entrepreneurs looking through a new lens to solve diverse problems. Learn what happened at the CSUMB Startup Challenge last weekend. Read this story.

A new feasibility study validates the suitability of creating a new regional power agency that would provide renewable energy and create green jobs. Read this story.

Plan, Permit, Launch, and Grow: the city of Santa Cruz announces a new "Business Roadmap" tool to help navigate the process of starting a business. Read this story.

What does Bud Colligan have to say about where regional tech headed? Find out. (And, we slip in another plug for Startup Grind's May 16 Fireside chat w/ Sara Isenberg.) Read this story.

The Genomics Institute continues to unlock scientific and medical issues. The Treehouse analysis -- personalizing medicine for children with cancer by comparing individual patients against large data sets -- is yielding real results. Read this story.

Instead of siloed departmental systems that analyze only a subset of data, newly-announced Looker Data Apps offer analysis catering to each department on top of a single source of truth. Read this story.

Lean Launchpad: Nada Miljkovic tells the story of getting the new UCSC Summer Entrepreneurship Academy up and running. Read this story.

The NextSpace Effect: Eric Ressler took the spirit of NextSpace with him to Cosmic headquarters just a few doors down. Read this story.

Plantronics Manager Pro: turning the headset into a data aggregation tool by using analytics to improve collaboration and customer service at the point of interaction. Read this story.